Together We Fail
by The Exile
Summary: Team Fire Emblem have been sent over to Guardiana to meet Team Shining Force and negotiate the first ever Sega-Nintendo peace treaty. Almost immediately, things start going horribly wrong and it isn't Ike's fault for once.
1. Chapter 1

((note: This doesn't follow any sort of canon. I know all the Fire Emblem and Shining Force characters wouldn't be alive in the same place and time. Its just an idea I had after playing lots of Shining Force and lots of Fire Emblem and noting how similar they were in lots of ways. Don't flame me for any intentional or implied opinions of games companies, I'm just using 'diplomatic mission between Sega and Nintendo' as a convenient reason for them to be there in the first place.))

* * *

"Guardiana's a nice place." Ike conceded with a hint of a grudge.

"Sure is." his companion replied absently, his eyes staring over the horizon and his thoughts in another world. His smile was broad and genuine as he leaned on the handrail, his arms folded, gazing out at the dense forests and broad mountain peaks that made up most of the landscape of Guardiana's countryside, broken by the occasional fast-flowing river or a patch of farmland near a small village. From the mountain path, difficult to climb but worth the trek, he could see everything from Alterone to Rindo. This kind of beauty could not be appreciated without having spent as long as he had in lonely, soul-destroying exile.

"Nothing like we were told it would look."

"Wouldn't be." replied the other man in his light, pleasant voice with a broad Guardiana accent, "Lot of false information got sent over Nintendo-side. Weird stuff. I don't fight with playing cards and I'm not an amnesiac time-travelling space alien either, just so you know."

"Clever." said Ike, "Be useful in the war."

"Yeah, shame we're losing."

Not everyone would have volunteered to walk up a precariously narrow ledge on the side of a mountain with a man who was technically their enemy. Okay, so technically Guardiana's political situation was so back-stabbingly complicated that to say it was Sega territory was to vastly oversimplify the situation and get yourself garrotted by one of Climax's assassins and, equally technically, Ike would fight for the highest bidder even if their name didn't happen to always be Nintendo but still, the tension was there, an invisible force like gravity that weighed down on them oh so lightly and subtly ever since Team Fire Emblem had arrived on the boat.

Max didn't care.

Max was referred to by the rest of the Shining Force team leaders as 'Captain Loser'. It was widely considered that Max had done nothing but fail every single quest he had ever been on – he had failed to permanently seal Dark Dragon in a battle during which he had got himself forcibly teleported off the face of the continent, whereupon he re-appeared, got himself captured and brainwashed and had to be rescued by one of his tightly bound and ever growing network of former enemies turned allies. It wasn't that Max was actually incompetent. He was just as good a fighter and tactician as the rest of them. He was simply doomed to defeat. Spatula, the Goddess of Defeat, Mitula's lesser known second cousin, walked beside him and blessed him lovingly with her bounty as her one true paladin. For that reason, he was always prepared to lose at any moment. Being so prepared gave him a certain advantage once he had actually lost - he fought his way out of a corner with an almost berserk frenzy and, the few times where his enemies would actually sit down and negotiate with him, knew all his legal rights and was quite happy to spend years on end suing for peace. Which was why people sent Max on hopeless missions. Any diplomatic situation involving Ike was classified as hopeless.

Besides, Ike seemed to have taken a liking to the man. The others could tell. The Crimean mercenary had been rude to everyone else they met except Max.

The other Fire Emblem ambassadors sent over to make some kind of semblance of peace with Guardiana were busy doing their own thing. Marth had taken a boat to Odegan to visit his long lost cousin Marth. He had been very excited to finally have a chance to meet up with the relative he had only ever received letters from. Eirika and Lyn had gone souvenir shopping. They had left strict instructions that no boys were allowed under any circumstances whatsoever. Ike was highly suspicious of this as he was absolutely sure Deanna had been with them. Ephraim, Eliwood, Hector and Roy were dining with Synbios, Medion, Julian and Nick in Saraband. It was a very important diplomatic meeting and one single faux pas could result not only in even worse relations between Sega and Nintendo, but also war with Camelot and, worst of all, Climax. Nobody wanted to rouse the Sleeping Snakebird. That was why Ike had been immediately and permanently banned from the meetings on pain of death. As was Max, who might well just randomly surrender for the hell of it.

"The sun's going down." said Diggory, "This path will be suicide once night falls. We should head back now."

"Shame. The sky looks like its going to be clear tonight. I'd like to see the stars." said Ike.

Suddenly, something came bounding up the path towards them. It was smaller than Diggory but was still running with enough force to knock Diggory off the cliff. He held on for dear life and prayed to Spatula that the rail would hold his weight.

"What's up, Eliwood?" asked Ike. His friend looked like he had run here all the way from Saraband.

"Its my son," said Eliwood, "He's very ill."  
-


	2. Chapter 2

"He was just sitting and talking one minute and the next he was collapsed on the floor, looking like death!"

"You said Guardiana didn't have any plagues." said Ike.

"We don't." replied Max, "Could be poison, I guess."

"Hector kept stealing our food and he's absolutely fine!" said Eliwood, "Besides, the priests tried Detox on him. None of our healing magic or theirs is having any effect."

"You sure he's not just drunk again? You know he can't hold his ale and he's always drinking too much."

"Ike, alcohol is a poison." Eliwood sighed, "Something far worse is wrong. They say he's going to die!"

"There could be something going around that your immune systems aren't used to." suggested Max, "Are you all up to date with your vaccines?"

Eliwood nodded, "The pen-pushers in Mushroom Kingdom are very strict with us about that."

"Could be a magical attack."

"Roy's magic defense is through the roof."

"So is Darksol's spell power."

They stopped talking as Max flagged down a wagon and they all climbed in. The gold they placed in the driver's hand, together with the promise of more once they reached their destination, ensured a suitably fast journey to Saraband. They were ushered straight through the gates and into the church where Roy lay in a back room, a team of six priests stationed around his bedside, performing healing rituals. The air sang, saturated with holy magic, leaving a bright white aura around Roy that looked like it was the only thing holding the boy's body together. His face was corpse white. He was barely breathing. Everyone from Team Fire Emblem except Marth crowded around him, their faces creased by worry.

"He was just talking to Nick." said Hector in subdued voice, "He was talking to Nick and then he reached for a cake and then..."

"Roy is our youngest." said Ephraim, "They're saying nothing can be done. We... we Fire Emblem people can't..."

"You can't ever be brought back from the dead. I understand." said Max, "We will do everything in our power to keep him alive." he extended one arm towards two of the priests in a rather elaborate gesture, "I'm volunteering for an emergency life energy transfusion."

"Is that wise?" asked the priest, "We don't want you dying on us too."

"I've had twenty of these before without dying." He didn't add that nine happened while he was being held down kicking and screaming and he still came out of them perfectly okay.

Suddenly, the friar came running in. He was an old man, out of shape, losing all his hair behind that blue skullcap of his. Under one arm he carried a thick leather-bound book. It was a record book, a kind of baptismal roll, legal and official document, a kind of life insurance written in runes imbued with the most powerful holy magic known, that kept one's soul protected against curses, possession and other nastiness. If caught early enough, a soul scribed into a record book could even be salvaged before the moment of death. The last trick didn't work for Fire Emblem people. Nothing brought back Fire Emblem people.

"I... I'm sorry to bother you chaps, but... the record I just tried to take of you all... it seems that the magic binding Roy's records has... well... become corrupted."

"Oh, great, this is all we need." the priest sighed, "Tear the page out and use a fresh one. I thought you were experienced at your job."

"It wasn't my mistake. They just corrupt, sometimes." the friar glared at him and turned to storm out again. Max blocked his exit.

"Don't touch that page." he ordered, "I think I know what caused this."

"Y... you do?"

Max nodded, "I've had the same problem crossing the border the other way."

"You mean sudden incompatibility?" asked the friar. Max nodded.

"Its because of all the misinformation we had to give Nintendo in order to survive." he explained, "Sometimes it doesn't turn off even when we ask it to and some of the information that gets entered into the record books gets automatically altered. It can hit us on the way out as well, our information about Nintendo can become garbled and when we make a record over there..."

"And that's killing him?" asked Eliwood, "A clerical error?"

"Records aren't just bureaucracy. Make a mistake and you can corrupt someone's soul." he said, "You could say its our pay-off for the resurrections. When it happened to me, I just couldn't make a record. Not that it couldn't have killed me anyway, having nothing to fall back on in a world with no resurrection."

"I will erase the corrupted record right now and your friend should recover. However, he will still be in great danger without a record." said the friar, "He won't be able to make any new records until we track down the original first records you made with your immigration papers at the checkpoint."

"Hector, we gave you the papers to guard, what did you do with them?" asked Eliwood.

"Uh..." Hector scratched his hair. Despite them not being related, Max was always confused as to how much Ike and Hector looked and acted alike, "I gave them to Marth. He said to give them to a pixie but there were lots of pixies and I don't get this paperwork stuff, so he said he'd take it off my hands."

"We'll have to find Marth." said Max.

"But he's in Odegan!" said Eliwood, "He said it was a day's journey away! Unless that information is wrong, too?"

"It takes a day by boat." said Max, folding his arms, "And I wouldn't trust the Egress spell over a long range." Especially mine, he thought, shuddering at the memory of his dreadful exile, "But I know a shortcut. I'm technically banned from using it but I'm sure they won't mind for an emergency such as this."

"Ike, you go with him. Marth's orders were very strict on that. You do not rejoin the main party and you do not leave each others' side." said Eliwood.

"If there's trouble, I might need more help than just Ike." said Max.

"I'll come too." said Hector, "I'm not doing too well at this diplomacy thing and I feel bad about giving the records to Marth, so I should help get them back. Besides, I'm the best fighter out of the three of us, so I can handle the biggest trouble."

"I wouldn't let Lyn hear you say that!" said Eliwood, "Its true, though."

"You'll need another escort from the Shining Force if we're to walk around openly." Ike reminded him, "Julian was supposed to be escorting you. You promised to meet him again later on this evening."

"Its okay." said Max, "We'll be meeting up with another when we get there. I'm pretty sure I can persuade him to join us."

"Who?" asked Hector.

"You haven't met him yet." said Max, "He's... family. Kind of."


	3. Chapter 3

Marth leaned against the rail and looked out over the sea. The wind was up and there was a little turbulence in the water but nothing the crew couldn't deal with. A storm was brewing on the horizon but he had been assured that they would be well within sight of Odegan by the time it reached them.

"And that," said the tour guide, pointing at a small island just visible on the horizon, "Is the isle of Waral, home of a colony of real mermaids!"

Marth did not concentrate on the tour guide. While he wanted to learn more about the outlying regions of the strange land he had been sent to, the guide had the most boring voice Marth had ever heard in his life and besides, he was busy with his own thoughts. He felt inside the lining of his cloak for the twentieth time today until he was satisfied all the papers were there. The light spray was making him paranoid that they would get wet. It was also ruining his hair. He shook his head again. He remembered when he spent so much time in the middle of pitched battles that his hair was the least of his problems. These days, his life was almost entirely spent taking care of day-to-day court duties in Aritia, or in those endless non-lethal international tournaments that Ike always won. Public image was important in the new Nintendo and everyone seemed to like his hair, so he kept it neat. He wondered how the meeting had gone, how much trouble Ike had gotten himself into, whether it had been a good idea to leave Jeigan in charge back at home.

"... of course, it is only an urban legend that the Shining Force are doomed to sink every ship they ever board, so the big pile of wrecked ships over there was probably caused by at least one other person too!"

The Prince watched the last of the smaller islands that comprised the border between Climaxland and the Guardiana mainland drift out of view. He mentally consulted his map again. In only two hours' time, he would meet his long lost cousin, Marth, on the island of Odegan. They had so much to talk about. Not only the pleasantries and formalities – they already knew a lot about each other through their regular correspondence in pen. They knew the story of their names – how Anri's grandfather had been a devotee of the God of War and the deity became the Lowell family patron - how exactly they were all related – including the exact relation of Princess Anri to the Lowell family founder - what each other looked like, what life was like for each other – although Marth wanted to see Odegan in person, as personal experience was so much more intense than a description in a letter – and any important family news.

No, what they really had to talk about was something Marth had not spoken of at all to the others. He supposed he shouldn't have lied to them – especially not about where he was taking everyone's Records - but he didn't want them all interfering, demanding their role in the event, and making an already risky plan even more complicated.

If this worked out, it would benefit every single one of them and end a curse that had been hanging over the collective heads of the Shining Forces for millennia.

He checked his pocket again.

* * *

Max waited patiently for Hector and Ike to get up off the floor and stop laughing.

"So, the tactic is to disguise ourselves as travelling circus clowns, right?" said Hector.

"Trust me, we won't get through that door without these masks." said Max, "And we need to get through that door." No matter how much I don't like relying on them, he thought to himself.

"I think you look kinda fetching in yours." Ike told Hector, "Like that masked ball in Pherae, where you got us both thrown out for pushing Oswin into a table and breaking it."

"That wasn't my fault. He stood on my foot!"

"Just be quiet, let me do the talking and for Spatula's sake watch my back." ordered Max, sighing. They followed him down the narrow cobbled street, still snickering quietly between them. The back streets of Saraband's Imperial district badly needed maintenance. Hit by a badly aimed Blaze spell in a battle between the Synbios Battalion and Bulzome Monks, the Aspian Empire, with their massive war debts and endless trouble with frivolous overspending by nobles, could not afford to rebuild their trade district.

Max stopped before a small building inbetween the Lucky Cookie Bakery and the Quick Chicken Cypress Takeaway. The wooden sign hanging above a solid-looking, heavily bolted door said

HONOURABLE AND WORSHIPFUL GUILD OF GREATER DEVILS AND ASSOCIATED LABYRINTH GUARDIANS.

BULZOME SERVICE 12:30am.

He sighed again and gave the door three firm knocks. After a few seconds, it swung open and a heavy-set man with a bushy black beard charged at Max, bellowing a war cry and brandishing a wickedly curved sword over his head. Before Ike could heft his sword from over his shoulder, Max had already pinned Balbazak's foot firmly to the floor with the Chaos Breaker.

"Oops." he said.

"Come in, Auxiliary Penultimate Guardian Doragor." said Geshp, who sat at the reception desk, thumbing the pages of an ancient-looking ledger with a bored expression on his face, "Close the door after you. No making any more trouble. Who are the newcomers?"

"Oh, this is... er... Guardian Hex the Maleficent..." he pointed to Hector, "And Guardian Eisenhower the Terrible. They're from our Nintendo lodge. You won't have met them before."

Ike watched Geshp write the names down, muttering to himself and struggling over the spelling. Hector glanced over at Balbazak. The man was screaming in outrage and failing to pull the blade from his foot. The sword was glowing with a faint green aura.

"Er... don't you want that back?" asked Ike, bending down to grab the hilt. He elbowed Balbazak in the face when he made a grab for Ike's sword.

"It always finds its way back to me." Max shrugged, "Besides, it might want to bind him for a few years. It does that to people it thinks are evil. Probably not a thousand years, though. It only tries that with Darksol. Is Darksol in today?"

Balbazak muttered a few choice epithets in Runefaustian that would have made Max blush.

"None of that language in the Guild hall." warned Geshp, waving a fountain pen at him, "No, he's in Cypress. Your brother's in the back, though, if you're looking for him."

"Oh, good. Er... sorry to bother you, but..." began Max. The fat Goblin raised a caterpillar-like eyebrow and glared at him, as if to reprimand him for the terrible crime of wasting his time when he was busy being bored, "I was wondering if you could help me. I need to get to the Odegan Lodge in a hurry. Do you mind if I use the Crypt Ruins?"

Geshp put his pen down and gave Max the look that bureaucrats the world over used when their patience was being tried to the limit.

"You'd better fill in the paperwork."

"I'll fill it in on the way there and give it to Pazort." he promised.

"If your mask fails again, the Guild is not reliable for any personal, legal, sudden, sharp, pointy or apocalyptic damage."

"Its okay, Hex and Eisenhower are specialist voodoo brainwashing mask repair experts. That's why I asked them to come over, especially to fix the problem with my mask."

"Did you fill in the paperwork for that?"

"I did it while I was over there, and gave it to the Lodge. Ask them!"

"Later." Geshop waved him away with the pen, his attention turned back to the book. Geshp was not the kind of person to be bothered going to, communicating with or even acknowledging the existence of somewhere so far away from his desk.

"Er... Max..." said Hector, "He's getting free."

With a grunt of repressed agony and then a thud, Balbazak managed to pry the sword out of the floorboards. He then fell over and dropped the sword, which was moving on its own in the way that semi-sentient swords had a habit of doing when they were annoyed at being picked up by the wrong owner and were planning to turn on them at the first opportunity. He dropped it, looked around for his own sword, then ran at the back door, screaming. He got halfway across the room before Geshp brained him with a paperweight.


	4. Chapter 4

"KANE!"

Max launched himself at his brother and gathered him into a strong embrace. He was so surprised that he didn't even have time to draw his dagger, never mind stab him in the back.

"Er... hello..."

"Ike, this is my brother, Kane. How's my nephew?"

"Ian? He's not with you?" the young man scratched his head. He was the same height and build as Max, looked around the same age, but had wild, spiky grey hair and a strong Runefaust accent, "He's not allowed in the Guildhall and I have work to do, so I told him to go hang out with you."

"He's supposed to be with me! He's in serious trouble!"

"Oh, you have a little nephew too, Max?" asked Ike.

"He's not little any more." said Max, "He tries to kill me too, now."

"Hey, you tried to kill him first!" said Kane.

"I was mind controlled! The same as all those times when you tried to kill me, remember?"

"Which times was I mind controlled, again? I lose track."

"Yours sounds like a happy family." said Ike.

"Its our mother's fault." explained Kane, "She named me Cain on purpose, and sent me to Runefaust with a letter of tenure to the Guild, just so I would grow up my brother's enemy. We've been set up by fate to try and kill each other ever since. Even now, in times of peace, where we can't possibly be on opposite sides of a war and the Guild never commissions me to kill him any more, he owes me half a million gold. Don't think I'd forgotten, by the way, you deadbeat loser. Where's my money?"

He emphasised the last sentence by freeing himself from his brother's grasp, shoving him backwards and reaching for his knife. Max reached for the Chaos Breaker, which had found its way back to him.

"And I thought Ike had family problems." Hector said, earning a back-hand from Ike.

They were halfway across the huge chamber by this time. Max noted that it was still under construction. By its design, it was built around some old Nazca temple that Geshp had paid someone to dig up. They descended a staircase, which wound for several flights, before they emerged in a similar chamber which was giving away to a natural cavern. Remains of the larger structure still stood here and there, a sandstone pillar, a slab covered in heiroglyphics of birds, eyes and people doing despicable things to each other.

The cavern narrowed after a while and split off into junctions. There was now only space for two to stand side by side, so Hector grabbed Kane and Ike grabbed Max to try and pry them apart and hopefully keep them alive for five seconds. They took the third right. At the end of the corridor was a stone dais that glowed pale blue.

"This is the teleporter." explained Kane, "You wanted the Crypt Ruins, right? Just take the second left, walk straight on past three turnings and climb up. Watch the swinging blade trap, the flagstone's marked with a cross so Panzer remembers where it is next time. Remember to sign yourself out."

"You're coming with us." said Max.

"Oh, I am, am I?" he folded his arms, "You're in no position to make demands, you..."

"This isn't about me. Ike and Hector's friends are in trouble."

"Why should I care about some friends of yours I've never met before in my life?"

"Well... they're kind of my enemies... potentially... I know how much you like my enemies..."

"They're my enemies as well!"

"You're from Runefaust, right?" Hector snapped his fingers, "We haven't been to Runefaust yet, have we, Ike?"

"Nope, only Guardiana." said Ike, "Can we go to Runefaust next, after Odegan? You'll take us, right, Max?"

"What the... Max, why haven't you shown them around Runefaust yet? We had an agreement!"

"Well, I don't know the place as well as you. And I may still possibly be a little unwelcome there. Permanently. On pain of death."

"Max, you moron!" Kane snarled, "Can't you do anything right? I was so determined to stay out of this stupid project of yours so I can get some work done, and now Ian doesn't turn up to take my place and you get yourself banished from somewhere again! Right, you lot, I'm taking over this mission!"

Kane pushed his brother aside, taking another swing at him with the dagger, then walked through the teleporter.


	5. Chapter 5

Marth was greeted off the ship by his long lost cousin. He was shorter than the others he had met, possibly a little younger, with dark brown hair in a neat style, and wore a red cloak over a suit of light armour. He helped Marth with his bags.

"Expecting trouble?" asked Marth.

"What? Oh, no. This is just protective gear." his cousin smiled, "I'm afraid you dragged me out of a rather important sporting event."

"Sporting?"

"Don't have time to chat, I'm on again in half an hour!"

Marth ran after his cousin, who was surprisingly mobile in armour, through the small dockside town. A couple of people waved to him or pointed at the blue-haired stranger. Marth did stand out rather in his finery – his best white tunic - and immaculately combed hair and he got the impression the minor port didn't really see much use. They ran into the woods then through a clearing. Marth was worn out by the time they reached the clearing.

In front of him was a large house. Just behind it, a crowd of people stood cheering, laughing and talking excitedly. It reminded Marth of the Grand Tournament, except rather less grand. A tent had been set up to supply beer from a stack of large barrels. Next to it, another stall was taking bets.

"Make way for the guest of honour!" yelled his cousin. The crowd parted to admit them both. Marth followed him to the front row, where he finally saw what was happening.

A race track had been set up in the back garden by someone who knew what they were doing, but didn't quite have the resources to do it properly. They had marked out the lines in the turf and placed cones, crates and large holes as obstacles. An official who looked like one of the town guards passed a helmet to his cousin, who donned it, then jumped into one of the cars. His opponents appeared to be a very old man and a priest.

"Welcome back to the 57th Annual Toydona racing championship!" roared the announcer, a very loud Dwarf, "After the last race, our reigning champion Marth remains undefeated, his grandfather is still in second place... and the Vicar narrowly took third place against fierce opposition, throwing the blacksmith out of the tournament! Finish up your beers quickly, people, because the next round is about to start!"

The starting flag came down and the crowd went wild.

Considering that they looked like they were made out of planks of wood nailed together, Marth was impressed at the speeds they could reach. His cousin was much faster than the old man, although he wasn't as good at cornering and he was gradually losing pace due to mistakes and minor damage to his vehicle. The vicar was the less experienced of the three, although he had the look of someone who wasn't about to surrender. Marth's competitive side, developed through his own involvement in the Tournaments, meant that he found himself genuinely interested in the tactics of the race and who was going to win.

"Marth always wins." the man stood next to him informed him, "He was trained by his grandfather, except that he's young and energetic and the old man's losing his edge. Don't say that to his face, though. He can still probably kill you in a duel."

"I would never be disrespectful to my elders." said Marth. Or Jeigan would never shut up about it, he added mentally.

"Are you a friend of Marth's?" asked the man, "He was acting like he knew you."

"I'm... a relative."

"Nice! Let me buy you a drink!"

"No thank you, beer does not agree with me."

"That's where you're going wrong, lad. You don't reach an agreement with beer, you just do what it tells you t..." the man stopped and began roaring his approval. The old man and his grandson were in a dead heat and were now trying to ram each other out of the way. Wood splintered and the wheels creaked as the cars collided. The crowd cheered them on, equally divided between the two competitors. Gradually, the younger man started to win the upper hand through raw strength and the other car eased sideways. However, his grandfather spun around at the last second and caught the other car's already weakened axle. The car careened over, pitching Marth's cousin into a bush. The cheers grew twice as loud. It was inevitable that the old man would win now.

Marth ran to the bush to check that his cousin wasn't too injured. The priest was there already, offering him a healing spell, but was waved away. The armour was a little dented but had served its purpose.

"Looks like I still have a little to learn." he smiled, "I'm sorry you had to see such a poor performance."

"We can't win every time." Marth observed, helping him remove the armour, "Its nice to be in a position where we can try again."

"You all right? Have some pain relief!"the man who had been talking to Marth walked over and thrust a pint of beer into the racer's hand. He took it and drained it.

"Maybe we should talk inside." he pointed to the house, "This is my house."

"A nice view." said Marth, "Its a lot bigger than in the photos."

"Its been in the family for five generations." said his cousin, "We'll need to get inside if we're going to have any privacy. These people won't come inside, my grandfather chases them out."

Marth nodded and followed him into the house. It had a traditional feel about it, with well polished wooden floorboards, folding screen doors, a fireplace and a solid-looking oven. His cousin reached into a cupboard, pulled out another beer and drained it.

"Are you sure you're well?" asked Marth. His cousin's hands were shaking and his grin was slightly lopsided.

"Heh, I'll pull through. Its tiring, putting on a stage face all the time."

"I know the feeling."

"Sometimes I slip. Especially when I lose. I tell people its because I still miss my twin brother."

"What twin brother?"

"You know, the great hero, who died in battle with Pazort." he laughed without a trace of humour, "My identical twin. You know how close identical twins can be."

"Oh... that twin brother." Marth nodded as realisation dawned, "So, you're willing to talk. I have the papers. Now tell me everything."

"Do you realise," said his cousin, "Exactly how illegal this is on an interplanetary scale?"

"I understand. And I'm willing to take as much of the blame as necessary."

"The fault isn't ours, my friend. It was out of our hands a long time ago. I'm not sure if there's even a thing we can do to stop it."

"Aritians don't give up. We can't. We don't always get second chances."

"You may have even less fallback than you realised."

"What do you mean?"

"Marth... there's a story I need to tell you... about the first time I met Anna."


	6. Chapter 6

((I don't know if the Fairy of Gudo Valley ever had a name, but now her name's Saturday. Like Friday, her cousin from Landstalker, except Saturday because she's on the Saturn. ~ Author))

* * *

_He woke up free of pain._

_He remembered the pain. He remembered the battle, the sound of steel, war cries and screams of pain, the heat and the stench of blood and sweat and arcane fire. Now he was resting in a bed with crisp white sheets that smelled fresh, feeling like he had woken up from a good night's sleep for once in his life. The low hum of a machine was all he could hear. The air of absolute calm was a stark contrast to to the adrenaline coursing through his system, keeping exhaustion at bay, fuelling his battle frenzy until he thought his heart was about to explode. _

_But then, he did not remember the battle too well. He had been too busy focussing on parrying the next swing of a hideous claw, ducking out of the way of a bolt of primal magic, swinging his sword to land a blow in that split second opportunity. To second guess himself, to cause himself a fraction of a second's delay, would mean his death. All he saw, all he remembered, was the thing directly in front of him at any one time._

"_Mars, ma'am, after the God of War." A voice he vaguely remembered, high-pitched like a female child._

"_Mars, Marth, Aeris, Aerith... if it says 'Marth' on my records, his name's Marth." a businesslike voice, also female. He didn't recognise her at all but was somehow terrified of her. Her voice wasn't exactly inhuman but wasn't far off it. The cold efficiency of a machine mixed with the slight irritation of an overworked human being. It was the voice of a kind of authority that no longer had to prove itself by sounding authoritative._

"_But there's already a Marth..."_

"_It would create more paperwork to change the name. Don't you think you've caused me enough trouble already? Don't push your luck."_

"_Sorry, ma'am."_

_The footsteps grew louder. Instinct told him to spring out of bed and grab his sword but he found that the weapon was not in the scabbard on his belt and he did not have the energy to move. _

"_I don't think you appreciate quite how much trouble you're in, Saturday." said the scary voice,_

"_Even if you do convince me to authorise this action of yours, you won't go unpunished."_

"_I accept my penance."_

"_And you'll accept the consequences of your actions? This was so destined to happen, its not true. If you alter the Event, it'll cause paradox backlash so far ahead it'll loop around and hit the past. We could be talking a Magnitude Six here. At the very least, that human's destiny is permanently broken."_

_Are they talking about me? He fought off another wave of exhaustion and willed himself to stand up. Leaning on a wall for support, he managed to stagger to the closed door. He could hear them both clearly from here. From what he could tell, they were stood just outside. He tried the handle but the door was far too heavy to push open. _

"_Whatever his destiny, he'll achieve great things." said the other voice, "That's just the kind of person he is. His entire line are like this. You don't know them like I do. Do you think a Fairy would be assigned to watch over a single family of humans if they weren't important? This is exactly why I want to save him. He's fought against impossible odds his entire life. Even if we bring about the worst possible ending... he'll be in the front line, making sure it doesn't happen. If fate says he's going to be an hour late to save the world, he'll be two hours early to make up for it. He's like that." _

"_Saturday... I understand what you're saying, but... in order to save him, I'll have to use the Resurrection system in a way its not supposed to be used. If I cause something to go wrong... if it breaks down..."_

"_Is it likely to break down?"_

"_Well, its never happened before. I don't want to know what happens if it ever..." _

_Suddenly, Marth managed to push the door open. He toppled out, arms flailing as he made a grab for anything he could use to stop his fall. He saw the two women – a small, winged woman in a green dress and a human woman his own size and build, with bright red hair tied neatly back in a single cord, wearing a pin stripe suit. He opened his mouth to cry out to them, then the human's expression changed to one of panic, she took a pen-like object out of her jacket pocket and pointed it at him..._

_He woke up free of pain. _

_This seemed wrong. Hadn't there been a battle? His memory was hazy, as if he had awoken from a vivid dream that had dissipated but left him with a strange sense of urgency. A battle, and... something he was supposed to remember..._

_After a few seconds' experimentation, he realised he couldn't feel his body at all. _

_He was surrounded by thick brown mist. He couldn't see very far in any direction. A voice was calling out to him._

_Marth..._

_Marth..._

_Marth! Awaken!_


	7. Chapter 7

"Stop stealing my kill, asshole!" yelled Kane, shoving Max out of the way and taking a swing at the enormous snake's head. The blade missed the creature's eyes and it hissed and retracted its head.

"I was nowhere near killing it, moron!" said Max.

"Wasn't talking to you!"

The snake's head darted forwards, its jaw snapping. It chose the wrong moment. Kane ducked underneath it and stabbed it underneath its jaw just Hector's axe came down, smashing through the scales between its eyes and spraying blood. It screamed and lurched, then disappeared down the corridor before Ike could strike a finishing blow with his longsword.

"I like these narrow corridors, slows people down so I can catch up." commented Hector.

"Bit of a squeeze in here, are you sure we all fit in this corridor?" said Ike.

"AAAAAAARGH... Hector, you're standing on me!" yelled Max.

"Sorry." he rumbled, then walked further down the corridor, still talking to Ike, "You're right, we should probably take front point, leave those two to it..."

Max stood up, using his sword, which was nigh unbreakable, as a lever rather than relying on his brother to help him up. He was covered in blood, both the snake's and his own. A perfectly good tunic was ruined. He had expected to be on a diplomatic mission, so he had put on one of the more expensive of his collection of green linen tunics. At least the shirt he wore underneath was red...

"Brother... please explain to us again why you didn't tell us that the cave was infested by a Guardian Snake."

"I said it was under maintenance!"

"I hadn't realised that 'under maintenance' meant the same as 'infested by giant snakes' in Guild language."

"Only the one giant snake." he shrugged, "Look, I thought they had cleared it out by now and were just repairing all the damage it did. It doesn't usually take them this long! Where the hell did a Guardian Snake come from anyway? This tunnel isn't even connected to Enrich! Something that big must make its own tunnels..."

"No, you go up ahead, I'll take the rear." said Max firmly, pushing his brother in front of him. Kane sighed and put the dagger away.

Max was left to his own thoughts again. He wondered if it was a mistake going in such a large group of people. He seemed to have better luck when he went solo. At heart, he was a solo adventurer, despite his skill at commanding large bands of warriors, which was more due to Nova's excellent tutelage than any natural gift. A fortune teller had told him once that he had been Nigel of Maple in a previous life. It was a reasonably skilled fortune teller as well. She had predicted that doom awaited him if he continued on his quest, then later she turned out to be an evil witch and attacked him and almost killed him.

"We're near the transporter to Odegan now." reported Kane, "Let me get in front, there's a knack to activating it."

Hector and Ike waited while he moved to the front of the party, then they carried on walking. The corridor ended in a raised square alcove covered in eldritch runes. When Kane thumped one of the flagstones, it began to fill up with a bright yellow light.

"The last time we used it, it connected up to the entrance to the Grand Labyrinth. Provided it hasn't sunk a level and pitched us right in the middle of the Labryinth again, we should be fine."

"I'll go first, just to be sure. Ike, help me up." said Hector. The mercenary helped his friend climb into the portal. There was a flash of bright light and a sound like a surge of power, then Hector was gone. Ike began to climb in after him.

Suddenly, Max screamed.

"Oh, hell..." said Ike. The snake had somehow sneaked around behind them and attacked Max. The swordsman was on the floor, desperately trying to fend the beast off. There was a large gash in his chest and he looked like he was having trouble staying conscious, never mind fighting the thing.

"I said, NO STEALING MY KILL!" roared Kane, hurling himself at the snake, his blows wild and furious. The beast turned its head to the new threat, hissing and snapping at Kane. The mercenary jumped through the portal. Seconds later, he reappeared with Hector. Ike helped Kane keep the snake occupied while his heavily armoured friend lifted Max over one shoulder, then grabbed Kane to make sure he actually followed them through the portal.

"I'm sorry you lost your kill, but your brother is grievously wounded and we need to find a priest as fast as possible." he explained once they had left the transporter room in the Grand Labyrinth and Kane was allowed to put his feet back on the floor.

"I told you, I wasn't talking to Max." muttered Kane.

The entrance to the Great Labyrinth was mercifully the entrance closest to the town – the one directly behind the royal throne. Luckily, the King wasn't actually on the throne at the time and they only confused a few guards and scared a maid half to death. Kane explained that their comrade was dying and it was imperative that they get him to a priest so that they could properly put his soul to rest after Kane euthanised him. They looked even more confused, especially after Hector then lifted him back off the floor, but decided that they had better rush the dying man to the priest anyway before he bled any more over the antique carpet.

"He's not actually dead yet, he's only got a few crushed ribs, he should be fairly easy to heal." said the priest, "What happened to him? Why were you in the Great Labyrinth at this time of night?"

"We were told to guard it. Where were our replacements? We were supposed to be off our shift by now!" said Hector.

"Spatula..." said Max, "Ravens... broken spears... bloodied wings... she claims us all..."

"Its okay, you'll live." said Ike.

"Brother, I'm here... I'm really home... look, I can see the sky... I can feel the sun... the grass is so green..." said Max.

They watched as the priest placed his hands on Max's chest and began chanting the words of the healing spell. Max was engulfed in a warm, soothing white light. Before their eyes, his bones began setting in the right places, his flesh began to knit back together and colour returned to his skin. His face relaxed, free of pain. Ike had seen it done countless times, quite often to himself, and it still freaked him out to watch. He forced himself to, though, as weaknesses were not permitted in Mercenary Captains.

"He's going to heal on his own now." said the priest, "But there's something you ought to know. Are you aware that there's something very wrong with this man's soul?"


	8. Chapter 8

"I told you someone in the town would know where he was." said Kane, "Odegan's a tiny place. They only have one local hero."

"So, what did the priest say?" asked Hector. Having accidentally broken the only chair in the room, he sat on the floor, polishing his armour and doing his best to remove the giant snake teeth-marks.

"He's at his Grandfather's house, recovering from some kind of sporting accident. I know where that is, I can show you a short cut through the woods. It'll only take five minutes."

"If you're aiming for speed, I should probably stay here with Max." Hector gestured to the swordsman, who was still asleep, "An injured man will slow us right down and I take longer to put my armour back on than it would for you to go there and come back with Marth."

They all shared Hector's unspoken concern – the condition of Max's soul. Not only had the attempt to update his records failed, the priest told him, he couldn't be resurrected. It was a bad idea to get Max involved in a battle under normal circumstances and until he adjusted to not being able to resurrect, he would be a liability. There was bound to be some kind of fighting on the way to Marth's house – the woods were full of dangerous animals. They still weren't sure what else had gone wrong with his soul. He had never been that spiritually stable in the first place, ever since his Egress spell was misdirected by the Chaos Breaker, and now all the various problems would be twice as bad. Until they could get to the root of the problem, as Kane put it, it was a constant game of Desoul Roulette.

"We'll be back soon." Ike promised him, "Marth will know what to do."

Hector watched them leave the small back room of the chapel, then went back to tending to his equipment. It was nice of the priest to lend him some holy water, he thought to himself, zombie stains always came out of his axe so much more easily when it was well anointed. He wondered how his other friends were doing. He expected Eliwood was probably still watching over his son. Lyn and the others were probably too busy with the actual diplomatic talks. This wasn't going to look good, he thought, Max's soul becoming the same as ours. Everyone in Guardiana will think we're spreading a plague or something. Hector guessed that this probably wasn't the case, as nobody else had caught it, or there would have been a lot more panic. It was more likely that Max picked it up from his time in the Fire Emblem Provinces. He was the only one of them who had actually been, so the rest would be okay.

Suddenly, Hector felt someone rest a hand on his shoulder plating. Max appeared to be trying to use him to prop himself up.

"I like that about armour." said Max, sounding half asleep, "Its solid. Good for reassuring yourself you're still here."

"It's good for the whole 'still being here' business in the first place, as well." said Hector, overjoyed that someone else wanted to talk about one of his favourite subjects, "I had a look at yours, by the way, but it was terrible quality. The armoursmiths in Guardiana are all a bunch of amateurs. You should get some ordered from Ostia. Painting it black doesn't make it better, by the way."

"Its more ceremonial than practical, really. The Force bought it for me as a promotion gift. I don't fight in it any more."

"Heavy armour knights wouldn't see much use in the tactics you normally go for in the Force, anyway." observed Hector, "The terrain's terrible for a proper defensive formation as well."

"I still dream that I'm in exile." said Max, "I don't know where I am when I wake up. I don't know if I'm physically here. My body might be somewhere else, I... it was awful, Hector. Twenty years of hell. Everyone gave up on me, even the Force, even the goddamn healers! They said they'd moved on with their lives, that they couldn't keep worrying about what was long gone."

"The trouble with moving on too fast in life is that you leave half your party behind, and then you all get separated and die horribly." said Hector, paraphrasing an Ostian proverb. All this talk of exile was making him homesick too. He wondered what Oswin was doing right now.

"Everyone except my brother. He's a good brother." said Max, "He pretends not to be, but he thinks about me more than anyone else."

"Isn't he mostly thinking of new ways to try and kill you?"

"He just wants to make sure I die honourably. Warriors of Guardiana have a strict code about where, when and to whom they should fall in battle. I've seen him deliberately train so he's exactly equal to me in skill, so it will be most honourable for one of us to kill the other. He's probably at it again right now."

"If you're equal, does that mean you can kill him, too?" asked Hector. It all sounded very well thought out. Morbid and depressing, but well organised.

"I suppose so. Technically we're supposed to kill each other at the same time. But then who will there be left to wait for me? He even brought up his own son to join in the search for me. I was angry at him at first, when I found out he had gone off and fathered a child, I thought he was going to start a new life without me. But Kane was the first person I ever set eyes on when I returned from exile, and his son saved my life that night. Don't tell him I said this, by the way, he'll murder us both."

"Your secret's safe with me." promised Hector, looking around the room for something edible. He liked the cookies with the smiley faces on.

"I'm sorry if I'm putting you in an awkward position, I just find it so much easier to talk about such things around you, for some reason."

"Er... that's nice?" Hector began to move and Max made a grab for his arm. "You'll be there when you wake up." Hector promised him, then wondered if the sentence actually made sense. It seemed to satisfy Max, who smiled and went back to sleep.

By the time the others returned, Hector was in trouble again, for stealing supplies from a church and for getting his hand stuck in a cookie jar.


	9. Chapter 9

"So... Marth's to blame for everything?" said Hector.

"No, let me explain this again." said Marth (Prince Marth, not the Marth from Odegan, who was being blamed for everything), "The fairy was the one who resurrected Marth from the dead. The resurrection caused all the problems. Marth had nothing to do with it. He was dead while it was all happening."

"So, we have to kill the fairy and not Marth?" asked Hector.

"I doubt its as simple as killing anyone." said Marth, "We've done nothing but kill every threat that's come to our worlds."

"Or fail to." said Kane, earning him a sour look from Max. His brother was awake now, due to the influence of some very strong Medical Herb tea.

"Or fail to." added Marth, "Which is a point. Most of the time, all we've ever done is keep threats at bay. We did so because they were going to destroy our worlds. We don't really know that we were 'supposed' to, or that it was destiny, because we're mortals, and mortals don't know how destiny works. We know that Marth came back from the dead at some point when he wasn't supposed to and that, ever since, the line between life and death hasn't quite been... right... especially around us, people who are in some way related to Marth, by blood or by succession of destiny. And that its getting worse lately. We can logically put these together and we can conclude that destiny isn't quite working right. It may or may not be our fault, but its definitely our problem. And we can't solve it by just killing another demon, because we always do that and yet nothing has really changed."

"For all we know, it could be making things worse." added Ike, "I mean, the original thing that went wrong was to do with someone dying. Or not dying. Or a bit of both. So by just trying to kill things and stop people dying as though nothing is wrong, we might just be putting too much weight on whatever's broken."

"But it'll be okay to ask Anna, right?" said Ike, "She must already know all of this."

"That she does, but she won't be expecting us to know." said Marth, "Marth was never supposed to overhear or remember. What if this is forbidden knowledge?"

"Forbidden? But its slowly killing us all off! We can't just not know about it!" yelled Ike.

"If Marth really did see Anna, and she knows all of this... Anna is part of some kind of authority greater than anything we can envisage. We don't know if she even cares about mortals, or if she sees our kind of numbers as completely inconsequential. She might even just decide we're the problem and wipe us all out."

"That's assuming she can wipe us out, and it won't just cause even worse problems." said Max, "She must have agreed to spare Marth's life for some important reason."

"You've got a long way to go if you want to see Anna." Hector pointed out, "She was at home, doing some paperwork, last time I saw her. I thought we were running out of time."

"Its true. We're at great risk right now." said Marth, "If there really is something wrong with our destiny, its going to be worse if we're all together to affect each other's destiny. Especially for an event as important to our futures as the peace treaty. We're also not going to be able to just stop the peace treaty without some serious explaining."

"But if we can't find Anna, what are we going to do? We still don't have a clue what's going on!" said Ike.

"Can't you find that fairy we're not supposed to kill?" asked Hector.

"I've spent most of my life searching for her." said the other Marth.

"What about that place you said you went to?" asked Hector, "When you died. The office-y place. Then the fuzzy place."

"Oh, that place. I doubt its on the same dimension."

"That might not matter." said Max, "Do you remember it at all? What it looked like? Anything at all about where it was in relation to somewhere else? Could you form a mental picture of it in your head?"

"Er... possibly... it was a pretty vivid memory... why do you ask?"

Kane suddenly looked at Max in shock, "Max, don't you DARE!"

"I'm willing to try, if its for something this important." said Max, "Although it wouldn't be a good idea to try it in a church. Too much interference."

"If it goes wrong..."

"Kane, we could find out why it went wrong! Prevent it from ever happening to anyone again! And we know that I can go to places I'm not supposed to, so I'm the obvious choice."

"What are you two on about?" asked Hector.

"If you think you know a way to get there, I might be able to make a map." said Prince Marth.

"You can?" asked Max.

"There is another reason why I arranged to see Marth alone, and why I've been so careful about secrecy. And why I needed everyone's paperwork. The truth is... I've been stealing from Anna's library."

"WHAT?" yelled Ike.

"Its been going on for several months now." said Marth, "Only one or two pages at a time. I've been making duplicates and putting them back in their place. However, I need to share this information with Marth, compare my notes to all the research he's been doing over the years. There are some things too sensitive to send offworld in the mail. Its growing increasingly hard to disguise what I'm doing with code words. Its also been a nightmare trying to get any information at all. Anna uses magical wards that don't exist anywhere else on the continent, her technical jargon is incomprehensible and I'm no thief at the best of times. But I found some references to the central office of her organisation."

"You did all this this without anyone knowing?" said Hector.

"I couldn't implicate anyone else in this. Do you understand what the punishment could be for stealing from someone like Anna?"

"IDIOT!" roared Hector, "You don't solve problems by yourself! We always work in groups! Always!"

"It doesn't matter now. We're all in this together." said the other Marth, "Especially Max and Roy. It wouldn't be right to withhold information from them if there was any chance of us reversing whatever's happened to them. We'll let you see our maps if you get us to where we want to go."

"Max, are you listening to me? We are NOT doing this!" yelled Kane.

"Max... what's going on? Why is your brother yelling at you?"

"He wants to cast Egress." said Kane.


End file.
